We're Moving!

With everything going on this past month, I am going to do my best to catch you up…so bear with me! 

Will flies the F-18 Super Hornet here in Virginia Beach where we have lived for 
a little over a year now.

Will Flying on Family Day in October

For the past few months we knew the end of Wills training was coming up and we would either be staying in Virginia Beach or moving away. We put our preferences in this summer like this:

1. Virginia Beach, Virginia (we want to stay!)

2. Lemoore, California (could be fun…)

3. Atsugi, Japan (please God no!!)

Up until recently, Will and I were pretty confident in our chances to stay in a squadron in Virginia Beach. Knowing the next move would be for the next 3.5 years, I think secretly I made myself believe there was no way we were moving away from our family. I was fully prepared to stay in Virginia Beach…but the Navy apparently had other plans for us. 

Will left to do his Carrier Qualification the morning of Monday October 27. The Carrier Qualification is when you are on an Aircraft carrier and you have to land and "catch the wires" a certain amount of times. He was on the boat for 5 days 
while I was at home anxiously waiting to hear how he did! 

The panoramic picture Will sent me on the Aircraft Carrier

Will got home the afternoon of Friday, October 31 just in time to help me pass out Halloween candy to all the kiddos in our neighborhood. He told be he had done very well and qualified PRI A (PRI A= Varsity and PRI B= Junior Varsity which is how I kind of see it) which meant he was able to be deployed right away or be sent to Japan where there was a slot open. The whole weekend we waited. Will was very calm and collected while I was an absolute crazy woman just wanting to know where we were headed! 


Monday November 3 came around and Will, along with 4 other guys in his class, were called in for a meeting on base. Again, I was almost positive this was going to be the meeting where they told Will that some other guy was going to fill the Japan slot and we got to live happily ever after in Virginia Beach. About an hour after he left I got a phone call that went something like this…


Me: "Hey! So…what did we get?" (sarcastically asking knowing it was Virginia Beach)


Will: "Well…its not great news".


Me: silent (heart sink)


Will: "They are sending us to Japan"…


Me: "Haha ok Will stop joking".


Will: "Caroline, I'm not joking".


Me: "Ok Will, this really isn't funny, stop".


Will: "Caroline, I'm really not kidding. We are moving to Japan".


Me: "Ok…I'll see you when you get home…".


Cue the INSTANT melt down.



It's really hard to describe the feeling I had in that moment because our entire world just got flipped upside down. I honestly had not even let myself prepare for Japan because it seemed to surreal to even try. Fast forward to today, 1 week later I honestly can say the news has sunk in and we are actually really excited to start this new adventure! 


The Cravens are moving to Atsugi, Japan! 

We have put our full trust in the Lord knowing there is a huge reason why we are moving here. We know its going to be tough but knowing there is a plan set before us is so exciting to see how it unfolds. Please pray for us as we continue to accept the fact that we are leaving for 3.5 years! We still don't know the exact day we leave, but we have been told to expect it to be the first of December. Stay tuned for so many more post and updates as we make our way across the world…we really hope you are 'Craven Adventure' too because here we go! 


Love,


Caroline, Will and Tubbs